The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-09-25
AMERICAN RAILWAYS.
Financial Condition During
The Past Fiscal Year.
A VERY GRATIFYING EXHIBIT.
The Aggregate Mileage for the Whole
Country at the Close of
the Year.

| Advance sheets OF P0Or'S Manual Tor
1887, which cover the year 1886, show
that the number of miles of railroad
constructed in the United States in 1856
was 5000, the aggregate mileage for the
whole country completed at the close of
the year being 137, 1856; the rate of in
crease during the year being 7.8 per
cent. The mileage, not including ele-
waited roads, from which returns OF
earning and traffic operations for the
past year were received, equal 125, 147
miles, against 123, ITO miles for 1885.
The share capital Of all the railroads
making returns, including the elevated
railroads, equaled So, 500 sos, 5OS, against
So, S17 697 1872 for 1885; their funded
debts, So, 882 1856, $50, against S3,765, 727.-
066 for 1885; their unfunded debt, $3.50, :
673, S14, against $3.50. 1925 for 1885
The amount of share capital and in
debtedness of all the companies for 1886
equaled IS, l63, 1852, against $7,842,-
533, 179 for 1886, the increase equaling
1920, 615,373, the rate of increase bt ng
about 400 per cent. The earnings
from freight equaled $3.50 1859 ,054; from
passengers. $211, 1926, S57; from misceIlan'
eous sources, $59, 903 OBS. The operating
expenses OF all the roads for the year
equaled 1924 $50 1874, the net earnings
being 1897 ,311 ,615. The gross earnings
upon the entire capital invested ex-
n1nnnH n p IU
eQualed 35 per cent. The amount of
interest paid the past year equaled $780,
036 .304, against $1S7, 1926, OBS for 1885; of
dividends, $81, 654 ,l3$, against S77 ,672, 105
for 1885. The percentage of interest
paid on the funded debts of the com
panies the past year equaled 4.75 per
cent, against All per cent. for 1856. The
percentage of dividends paid to the
whole share capital equaled 2 04 per
cent, against POP per cent for 1885.
The earnings per mile of lines operated
the past year equaled $3.50, against So
265 per mile for 1885, the increase per
mile equaling 1905, the rate of increase
per mile being 40 per cent.
The general results of the operations
of the railroad system of the country
are briefly summarized as follows
The traffic operations of the year-the
passenger and freight moVement-were
largely IN excess of any previous year,
but the increase in the volume of traffic
Was nevertheless little above the aver
age Increases of past years, ana is indi-
catiYe of healthy revival IN the bust
ness OF the country, and a continuance
of its development rather than of any
extraordinary movement due to specu-
lative causes,
In both passenger and freight traffic
the rates per ton per mile and the aver
age carrying distance of each fell off q
trihe, so that were it not for the in
creased movement OF persons and mer-
chandise the earnings would have
shown decrease. The gradual reduc-
ton of freight and passenger rates is,
however, a natural sequence TO the
growth of the country. During the
past year this decrease was less notice
able than formerly, for the reason that
rates are now so low in the average as to
admit of but little further decrease.
The earnings of the year, when COM
pared on mileage basis with the aver
age Of1S85, show large increases, but yet
fall very much short of the averages of
1884 and 1888. This may be accounted
for in some measure by the fact that
large extent of the mileage constructed
in recent years has been through long
stretches of comparatively undeveloped
country; and again by the fact that the
construction of duplicate paralelIed
lines. to which extended reference has
beenmade in former number of the
Manual.
The exhibit of earnings made is still
more gratifying by the reduction in the
cost of operating the roads, the total
cost in 1866 being 1884 per cent. of the
gross earnings, against Is. II per cent. in
1885, the reduction being due chiefly to
improved methods and the introduc-
ton of necessary economies.
The payments made for interest on
bonds during the year show decrease
in the average rate of 0.U2 per cent
crease in the funded debts of the COM
panies, made to provide the means for
new construction, on only a small part
of which interest accrued or became due
within their fiscal years; also to the pro-
visions made in many reorganization
schemes for a reduction in the rate of
interest and for deferring interest pay
ments for certain periods, and to the
gradual retirement of high-rate bonds |
by the larger corporations.
The general result for 1886 is a very
favorable one, not only in the increase
of earnings upon the investments, but |
in the better sentiment which prevails. |
The managers of our great lines feel |
themselves to be much more masters of |
the situation, as it were, than for some |
years past. Within the past year dis
turbiDg influences of great magnitude |
have been removed, OF which the alb
sorption of the West Shore by the New
Chicago and st. Louis by the Lake !
Shore, may be given as examples, show
ing that in great emergencies the man
ayers of our railroads can act like men
of sense. and profit by the experience of
the past.
There seems to be disposition on the
part of our railroad companies to cult